"It's certainly not intentional that it would catch on that way," he told me recently. "It's a line that we liked."

They liked the line so much that they made sure it was in the game a lot, right? Not really. "I don't think you hear it that much," he said. "It sticks out. It's got more flavor, so I think it sticks out."

"This was late in the project. We wanted to have the guards to have more personality. They're usually just grunting, telling you what to do. So we had Emil go in and write a lot more stuff and have them reflect you. So the guards say the most about you and what you've done: 'Oh, I like that armor.' 'I hear you're doing this.' And then, there is a suite of, 'Why am I no longer a guard? These guys are adventuring. I'm stuck here with dragons.' That was just one of the lines."

Pagliarulo wasn't available to tell us just why he wrote that line, but at least we now know why it's in there. It's there for you, gamers. The guards want you to know that you matter.

And, no, Bethesda did not expect to create the biggest gaming meme since the one about cakes and lies.

"Can anybody do that?" Howard asked. "'We will write this line. And it will catch fire.'"